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~ OOBDUN. Toma?

1863. My object in now writing is to speak of a matter which has
Zu, 59. a practical bearing on your affairs. You know how much
alarmed I was from the first lest our Government should
interfere in your affairs. The disposition of our ruling
class, and the necessities of our cotton trade, pointed to
some act of intervention; and the indifference of the great
mass of our population to your struggle, the object of
which they did not foresee and understand, wo.ld have
made intervention easy, and indeed popular, if you had been
a weaker naval power. This state of feeling existed up to
the announcement of the President’s Emancipation Policy
From that moment our old anti-slavery feeling began to
arouse itself, and it has been gathering strength ever since.
The great rush of the public to all the public meetings
called on the subject shows how wide and deep the sympathy
 for personal freedom still is in the breasts of our
people. I know nothing in my political experience 80
striking, as a display of spontaneous public action, as that
of the vast gathering at Exeter Hall, when, without one
attraction in the form of a popular orator, the vast building,
its minor rooms and passages, and the streets adjoining
were crowded with an enthusiastic audience. That meeting
has bad a powerful effect on our newspapers and politicians
It has closed the mouths of those who have been advocating
the side of the South. And I now write to assure you
that any unfriendly act on the part of our Government—no
matter which of our aristocratic parties is in power—towards
your cause, is not to be apprehended. If an attempt were
made by the Government in any way to commit us to the
South, a spirit would be instantly aroused which would
drive that Government from power. This, I suppose, will
be known and felt by the Southern agents in Enrope, and
if communicated to their Government, must, I should think.
operate as a great discouragement to them.”